Most people know that regular exercise can help you get in shape. But did you know that exercise can not only improve your physical well being, but your psychological state as well? There are many benefits of exercise because exercise affects every single part of your body. Exercise affects your nervous and cardiovascular systems, it affects hormone secretions which can regulate everything from diabetes, weight gain and also your mood. Exercise affects how you walk, talk, breathe, move, think and feel.
             In addition to the many treatments for depression, exercise has become an attractive new choice to alter a person's mood. Many recent studies have been published supporting the belief that exercise has been proven effective in improving depression and in some cases has been able to prevent it all together.
             The basic rationale behind these studies is that exercising has very positive effects on an individual's body and mind. In support of the psychological benefits, it has been determined that exercising increases a person's self-confidence as well as provides a feeling of accomplishment and mastery, which in turn may raise an individual's overall outlook (Rice). By assembling the results from fifty-one different studies, JC Spence found that a small but notable increase in self-esteem was linked to the lowering of depression (Artal).
             In addition to the increase in self-esteem, exercise can also provide a more positive perspective on life. By exercising in group settings the person is placed in an area where it is more likely that he/she will interact with others. The interaction can offer a positive therapeutic affect for those who are so depressed that they choose not to even
             get out of bed. It seems that the majority of studies dealing with the psychological affects of exercise all conclude that exercise does have a positive affect on depression. Take for instance the experiment done by Martinse...